According to BibleProject, “the word ‘advent’ comes from the Latin word adventus, meaning ‘coming,’ or ‘arrival.’ During the Advent season, we remember the first arrival of Jesus in history and look forward to his return when He will renew all creation. Advent shapes individuals and communities to pray, give and worship while they learn to wait with expectation.”

How do we wait well? A tension exists between the present and our forward, future-looking “hoped for.” Healthcare professionals are known for having difficulty in waiting, for impatience. I (Dr. Brick Lantz) have been demanding at times in my practice wanting results or tasks to be accomplished. Patience must be learned. Patience can become a habit. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit.

From BibleProject’s devotional Anticipating Christmas: An Advent Overview, “This season teaches us to lament the world’s fractures, to practice generous love, and to live as people formed by God’s future. We light candles, read Scripture, and set our hearts on the story of God coming to dwell with humanity.”

In the busy pace of our culture and lives, Advent can help us slow down, allowing us to truly pause and behold Him, Jesus—our King of kings, our Lord of lords, our Savior and Prince of Peace. In our world full of corruption, decay and injustices, we long with expectancy for our soon-coming King who will set everything right by bringing His everlasting peace and justice with the government upon His shoulder (Isaiah 9:6-7). Knowing in our hearts and minds that Christ was born of a virgin, suffered, died on the cross out of love and was resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit allows us to serve in healthcare with compassion and patience.

Oh, how we pray for things to be righted right now in our world! Romans 8:22 says, “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (ESV). Because of the fall caused by human sin and its consequences, the entire world is suffering while anticipating a future free from suffering. Until Jesus’ return, which several of us anxiously await, God uses His image bearers operating in various vocations and callings to help rectify injustices and suffering and stem the decay produced from living in a fallen world. Christian healthcare professionals and students are uniquely equipped and positioned to operate as such instruments of compassion, comfort and healing, to serve as His hands, feet and heart in binding up the seen and unseen wounds of humanity. We are grateful for you and for how the Lord is using you and others who serve in healthcare.

Given the 24/7 healthcare mantel carried by healthcare professionals, going from one patient situation or crisis to another, amid long hours, is there refreshment for your soul? Is there opportunity during this Advent season for you pause to experience the awe and comfort of the One who is strength in our weariness, who is the Prince of Peace when we are distressed, who is the Healer of people and situations that appear broken beyond repair? Our awesome God is perfect in His faithfulness (Isaiah 25:1) to redeem, restore and make new what is broken. He is working through His church, and particularly Christian healthcare professionals, to bring His hope and healing to our emotional, mental, physical and spiritual ailments and in times of dismay. Jesus was never self-conscious but in humility was always other-conscious. We can have the mind of Christ in serving in this profession called healthcare.

As you are laboring, serving and representing Christ in the tension of our current brokenness from one patient to the next, you may be seeking clarity and assurance on what the outcomes will be. We like sure outcomes. As things look like they are falling apart, we can trust God to faithfully and perfectly fulfill His promise to restore and make right everything when He returns. In the meantime, keep your hope this Advent season and every day in the God who says, “…I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10, ESV).

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13, NIV).

In the hope of Advent, here is a message to encourage you about the God of “I Am” and “I will.”